Oxygen partial pressure effects on the magnetron sputtered WO₃films

Abstract

Electrochromism is changing color of a substance in response to the applied an external electric field and the phenomenon is reversible. WO3 is very attractive material due to its electrochromic properties as well as it is also attractive for many different applications such as gas sensors, phosphorous screen, textile, glass industry. In this study, it is aimed to provide optimization of the optical and structural characteristics of WO3 by changing the growth parameters mainly the oxygen partial pressure. The partial pressure of oxygen was changed with increments of 0.7 mTorr. For the analysis, X-ray Diffraction (XRD), absorption, Raman spectroscopy measurements were used. When O2 gas increased, peaks belong to the WO3 was observed in XRD patterns at the 2 theta angles of 23.0, 11.0, 23.5 and 28.5 angles corresponding to the (002), (020) and (220) planes, respectively. This shows that there is a significant effect of increasing O2 partial pressure in the formation of WO3 films. The bandgap energy of the WO3 thin films are found to be around 3.0 eV. Raman measurements showed vibrational modes of W-O-W stretching and bending modes which shows small shifts depending on the partial pressures of the O2. Obtained results indicated that better crystal structure is obtained with higher O2 gas partial pressure.